Beaches and Mountains: Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse New York, Swiss Business Lounge New York

My friend was arriving on a United Premium Service flights just minutes after my flight was scheduled to arrive. Fortunately US Airways and United both use terminal 7 at JFK, so I just waited for him at his gate. Once he arrived we took the AirTrain over to terminal 4, where our Singapore Airlines flight would be departing from.

We had about six hours before our Singapore Airlines flight and Singapore check-in wouldn’t be opening for another three hours, so we headed straight to the Virgin Clubhouse.

At JFK, Singapore Airlines uses the Virgin Clubhouse for their first and business class passengers. In theory it’s a bit disappointing flying Singapore Airlines first class and only having access to a business class lounge, though as I discovered on my trip on Virgin Atlantic back in March, Virgin’s Clubhouses are better than your average business class lounge. I was actually quite looking forward to comparing the Virgin Clubhouse in New York to the one I experienced in San Francisco a few months earlier.

In terminal 4 all of the airline lounges are located landside. For the most part this is bad news since you have to leave the lounge early to leave plenty of time for clearing security. At the same time it meant we could easily use the lounge even without boarding passes.

The good thing about the Clubhouse is that they have a list of all Singapore Airlines passengers that are eligible for lounge access, so as long as your name is on the list you don’t need a boarding pass to enter.

The lounge is located on the second level across from the check-in area, right next to the Swiss lounge.

Terminal

At the entrance we were welcomed and given a tour and explanation of the lounge, which I felt was a nice touch.

Lounge entrance

The lounge is beautiful, with plenty of areas to sit, either for lounging, working, or eating.

Dining area

Lounging area

Bar

Bar

The tarmac views were spectacular, both of the gates and the runway.

Tarmac view

My one major complaint is that the lounge itself is “open air” and not separated from the rest of the terminal, meaning you hear all the announcements and noise from the terminal.

Terminal view from lounge

My friend and I both hadn’t eaten a whole lot that day so decided to have a meal in the Clubhouse as soon as possible so that it wouldn’t interfere with our dinner on Singapore Airlines several hours later.

We sat down at a table and within moments a cheery waitress introduced herself to us and explained the menu. I ordered a Diet Coke with lime.

Menu

The menu looked fantastic, so I went with a shrimp salad, mushroom quiche, and best of all, butterscotch dessert.

“Laughing Bird” shrimp salad

Wild mushroom quiche

Tandoori chicken

Butterscotch budino

The pace of the service was great and refills were constantly offered. I would assume it’s tough to find “good help” at JFK given that they probably don’t pay their servers especially well and working in the airport as a waitress isn’t all that desirable, though the service was spectacular. I left the waitress a tip (I didn’t feel pressured to, though she was just so professional that it felt right) and my Diet Coke wasn’t once less than half full over the next several hours. 😉

After lunch I tried to log onto the internet to get some work done, only to get this error message:

No comment…

It took a bit of help from one of the agents, though within about five minutes my internet was working just fine. Unfortunately the internet was incredibly slow, making it very tough to get any work done.

Around that time I decided to take a shower. The lounge boasts multiple spacious shower rooms featuring Bumble & Bumble products. The water pressure and temperature were also excellent.

Shower room

Overall the Clubhouse was awesome, much like the one in San Francisco. The service, food, and design of the lounge were all great. Comparing this lounge to San Francisco, I’d probably give San Francisco a slight advantage since the lounge is “enclosed,” meaning it’s much quieter and peaceful given the lack of terminal noise.

About two hours before departure we decided to head to Singapore Airlines check-in just to get a boarding pass reprint and ensure our bags were properly checked through.

Terminal 4 check-in

Singapore Airlines check-in

While there were long queues for economy, there was no one in the first class line.

First class check-in

The agent was friendly though had a puzzling expression on her face when I presented her with my handwritten baggage tag. After asking me some questions and making a few calls she assured me the bag would be checked through properly all the way to Bangkok.

Before she let us go she made us place our carry-ons on the scale. Singapore’s cabin baggage allowance is a measly 15 lbs. and suffice it to say we were both carrying substantially heavier bags. Believe it or not out of hundreds of segments in international first and business class, this was the first time I was ever asked to weigh my bag – and I’ve flown tons of airlines with very strict baggage policies.

Of course I wasn’t about to check my carry-on given how complicated the routing was, so as I placed it on the scale intentionally made it so only half of the bag was on the scale while the other half was hanging over. The agent didn’t bat an eyelash.

After that we had boarding passes in hand and decided to head to the Swiss lounge to see if they had faster wifi. Unfortunately we were only admitted to the business class lounge, though at least the wifi was faster, which is all we wanted.

The lounge was reasonably nice for a business class lounge. It wasn’t as nice as the Clubhouse and certainly wasn’t anywhere close to a first class lounge, though as far as business class lounges go, it was decent.

Swiss business class lounge

Swiss business class lounge seating

Swiss business class lounge

The lounge featured plenty of seating and a buffet with a variety of fresh items, like pasta, potatoes, fruit, desserts, etc.

Food spread

Food spread

About an hour before departure we decided to head towards security given that we were expecting long lines since many flights to Europe were leaving around the same time as our flight.

This is easily one of the most spectacular views I’ve ever had from a hotel room. Yes, that’s the Taj Mahal in the background. And yes, those are dancers on top of the building. I do have one serious issue, though. Remember when you first…

Trip Report Index At the security checkpoint the line was actually substantially longer for first and business class than for coach, so we got in the coach line. Security took about 20 minutes and also a bit of arguing with the agent over answering silly…

More from One Mile at a Time

This situation just got even cooler, and I have to share an update. Yesterday I wrote about my temptation to fly Azores Airlines to Praia, Cape Verde, via Ponta Delgada, in the Azores. $800 in business class for a routing like this? How could I not?…

Earlier this week, Ben wrote about how to save money by booking mixed-class itineraries where you book business (or first class) one way, and economy the other way. He used USA to Europe as a routing example. As soon as I saw the headline, I immediately…

Obviously not all OMAAT posts are going to appeal to everyone, and that's totally fine. I know a good number of you love my random posts about airline routes that fascinate me, while others are bored as could be by them. This is one of those posts, so…

A few days ago, I shared some fun ways to use the 125,000 Membership Rewards from the increased bonus on The Business Platinum® Card from American Express OPEN. Just in case you missed the details of the current bonus, here they are: 50,000 Membership…

I frequently commend the Gulf carriers for their superior onboard products, excellent service, and attractive fares. However, I've also long said that they leave so much on the table with their subpar loyalty programs. It makes no sense to me. If there's…

Right now I'm in a bit of a travel planning frenzy. I had a ton of international travel early in the year, and have now been in the US for a couple of weeks. Around that time my international travel bug usually starts to kick in, so in this post I wanted…

About luckyBen Schlappig (aka Lucky) is a travel consultant, blogger, and avid points collector.
He travels about 400,000 miles a year, primarily using miles and points to fund his first class experiences.
He chronicles his adventures, along with industry news, here at One Mile At A Time.

You said, “After that we had boarding passes in hand and decided to head to the Swiss lounge to see if they had faster wifi. Unfortunately we were only admitted to the business class lounge, though at least the wifi was faster, which is all we wanted.”

Was there a Swiss first class lounge that you were denied access to? If yes, how would that be possible since you were traveling *A F?

“[…] I placed it on the scale intentionally made it so only half of the bag was on the scale while the other half was hanging over. The agent didn’t bat an eyelash.”
Of course she didn’t bat an eyelash, the scale will show the exact same number.

I mean, it’s not like half of the weight is going to disappear or anything. It’s simple physics — the downforce of the bag is equal to it’s weight in kilograms multiplied by 9,81m/s^2 (sorry, I’m used to SI units), and the force transferred to the scale is the same, even if it’s placed upside down, with 50% hanging outside et cetera. It has the same self-weight.

The scale works by registering the force (don’t ask me how it registers it though), and divides it by 9,81 m/s^2 to find the weight.

Now, if you were to place your knee or foot under the part sticking out, it would be another story — that would potentially reduce the force acting on the scale significantly.

@ David — There is a business/first class security line, though when I was there it was longer than the coach line.

@ Andy — Lufthansa restricts access to their first class lounges only to their own first class passengers and not passengers booked on other Star Alliance flights, unfortunately. It’s also in a different terminal.

@ Henrik — Sorry, I wasn’t clear. At JFK the scale is in a casing of sorts. So if you place luggage on the edge of the scale, the weight is split between the outer casing (which isn’t weighed) and the scale. Make sense?

Recent Trip Reports

For our last night five nights in the Seychelles we visited Desroches Island, where a brand new Four Seasons opened in March. The Seychelles consists of over 100 islands, though Mahe is by far the largest, and then there are a few more populated islands.…

We were spending eight days in the Seychelles, and when we booked this trip many months ago, we initially booked five nights at the Four Seasons Desroches Island, which was going to be the "highlight" of our trip. I'll talk more about that booking process…

Before I get into this review, I just wanted to clarify that this flight was supposed to be operated by Air Seychelles. However, shortly after we booked, Air Seychelles announced a major restructuring, which would include them canceling their Paris to…

Our flight was departing Paris at 9:55PM. We had to check out of our hotel at 4PM and decided to head to the airport at around 5PM, and arrived around 6PM. Air Seychelles departs from Terminal 2. We had already checked in online, so didn't need to stop…

Recent Posts

Every month I make a post with what I consider to be the best credit card bonuses of the month. While there are several excellent long standing credit card offers, the specifics of the best offers are constantly changing (be it the annual fee, minimum…

This is pretty significant news. In July 2014, a Malaysia Airlines 777-200 crashed while enroute from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 people onboard. This left the world in shock, not just because it appeared that the plane was shot down,…

While exact details haven't yet been announced, Delta revealed today that they plan to fly nonstop between the United States and Mumbai, India, as of 2019. Delta hasn't yet revealed out of which hub they'll operate this flight (my guess would be out…

Cathay Pacific's Asia Miles program has just announced some changes to their frequent flyer program, which kick in as of June 22, 2018. With these changes they're adjusting the number of miles that members will earn from flights, and are also adjusting…

Free Email Newsletter

One Mile at a Time is owned by PointsPros, Inc. This site is for entertainment purposes only. The owner of this site is not an investment advisor, financial planner, nor legal or tax professional and articles here are of an opinion and general nature and should not be relied upon for individual circumstances.

Advertiser Disclosure: Some links to credit cards and other products on this website will earn an affiliate commission. Outside of banner ads published through the Boarding Area network, this compensation does not impact how and where products appear on this site. While we do try to list all the best miles and points deals, the site does not include all card companies or credit card offers available in the marketplace. Please view our advertising policy page for additional details about our partners.

Editorial Disclosure: The editorial content on this page is not provided by any entity mentioned herein. Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.